A Very Jersey Thanksgiving

Okay, it wasn't that Jersey. I mean there were no Snooki sightings and I barely heard an accent, but I was in the state for thanksgiving and we did watch a movie that took place in New Jersey. I also ran my Jersey race and the last song I heard in the car before starting was by Bon Jovi. (Or JBJ as the woman in the movie affectionately calls him).

This was my fourth attempt at a race in either New York or New Jersey and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I was thankful to finally cross one of the two states off the list.

I planned the trip to Jersey over Thanksgiving since my family was out of town and it was high time I visited my friend Felice, and her new sweet baby boy. It was good to spent time with her family, and the two of us got some good bonding time in.

Once, Twice, Three Times New Jersey...

Sometimes life doesn't go the way you'd planned.

I had scheduled a trip to visit a friend in New York and signed up for a race in New Jersey. When the weekend drew near, my ride fell through and we had to cancel. We picked another weekend and signed up for another NJ race. This time, I had spent a week in bed and when Saturday morning came, snowy and cold, I had to ask myself why I was planning to do this race. I could get out of bed and drive the half hour to the race with my two friends cheering me on, but I would be running it alone (one friend is pregnant and the other, who had wanted to do it with me, hurt her foot and was told not to run for 10 days) and I would not be setting any time records as I hadn't run in a week and was still very lethargic.

Should I stick to my goal just because I created it? But then I remembered why I made the goal in the first place- yes, to challenge myself, but also to have fun-- to live out a good story, as Donald Miller would say.

Running in the snow by myself, making myself even more sick and more tired, does not make a great story.

Spending the day with good friends drinking world famous toasted marshmallow milkshakes, making dinner, and watching old movies might not make a very exciting story- but it was a good one. So New Jersey still awaits...but it leaves me with another reason to visit my friend-- and this time, we can run together.